This Indian summer day is so beautiful here in Minnesota, I’m not surprised if it’s taking a while for folks to check in.
The Rapture Boss…looks like we’re the only ones left.
😉
I’ve been outside mowing the lawn and pulling weeds. Now resting. Whew!
John Guilfoyle, that was really funny! — except that, I’m still here, so maybe not so funny. 🙁
Kate says, “John Guilfoyle, that was really funny! — except that, I’m still here . . . ”
I’m still here too– somebody has to feed the cats ’cause they weren’t raptured. And about the photo of the day: I was thinking that if you were to crop the left-hand side and the lower edge just right, it could pass as a picture of either Citi Field or the NYC subway system yesterday. See the following short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgAb10BXhEM&ab_channel=CNBCTelevision
I do hope Neo is dry and cozy.
It looks like the northern California coast.
M J R reporting in . . . hello, neo . . . hello, folks . . .
Yep been working outside and will go out to do more.
But wanted to say that the MSM is blaming the Rep for not voting for the funding bull (meant Bill, but Bull will do), and avoiding the fact not one Dem voted for the bill. If they had voted for it then it would have passed. But NO, blame hard right Rep.
Stop gap will not do anything. It put the whole mess into mid Nov, just before the Holiday Season.
I recognized the photo as an unfamiliar part of the California coast. And the image URL confirms: Fort Bragg.
om:
Yes, Fort Bragg. I’ve been there several times – very lovely place.
I read the Slate.com advice columns (taking one for the team). Very enlightening and entertaining.
Today, a letter from a “35-year-old transmasc nonbinary person” who also identifies as “poly.”
To the uninitiated, this is a biological and anatomically normal female who thinks she’s a fella (no explanation of why she can’t be non-binary as a biological female as well as an artificial male). She still looks and acts like a lady because she has just started taking testosterone and it will take 6 months to start having an effect.
She has many partners, including some that she meets for anonymous sex that she finds on apps.
Her question is whether it is OK to conceal her “status,” i.e., that she’s really a “guy,” from her anonymous hookups. She recently found herself in the apartment of a “Trumper” and felt unsafe.
I know that you’re on the edge of your seats for the answer.
Yes, it’s fine to conceal that you’re really a guy if it’s for safety.
More details at https://tinyurl.com/v7j2bzkd
Visiting University of Cincinnati where my daughter is considering going to school.
Re: Fort Bragg.
Lovely place, but the name has to go.
The US Army recently renamed Ft Bragg (the huge base in NC) Ft Liberty. They could not tolerate a base named after a decorated officer who spent some time as a confederate. They have also renamed Ft Hood here in Texas- now Ft Cavazos. Same logic.
Now, the Confederacy and slavery never existed, and we are now at war with Eastasia.
RISD last week and SCAD next week. Fun times.
I am battling Yellowjackets. Yesterday the phone guy was here because our backup dsl was down. Opened up the demarcation point and it was full of YJ. There are six large dead salmon on the shore. Swarming with YJ. The salmon are spawned out chum that have come back down river to die. Now having satellite connection problems. Probably sun angle but the antenna is swarming with YJ.
Kind of like some horror movie.
I recently heard a lecture from an NC historian, who said, as an aside, that if they wanted to use only pro-Union names, they might as well have left it as Fort Bragg, since he lost practically every battle. Fine strategist, field commander, not so much.
PA Cat, I was wondering if you were flooded in New Haven.
West TX Intermediate Crude says, “The US Army recently renamed Ft Bragg (the huge base in NC) Ft Liberty. They could not tolerate a base named after a decorated officer who spent some time as a confederate. They have also renamed Ft Hood here in Texas- now Ft Cavazos. Same logic.”
My dad trained as a paratrooper (82nd Airborne) at both bases during WWII before being shipped overseas for Operation Torch. Fort Hood was Camp Hood then– if the history of what began as a tank destroyer training camp interests you, there ‘s a lot of info. on the following website:
From the home page: “All the materials we receive are digitized and available to read online or for download. We dedicate the site to the men that served in the U.S. Tank Destroyer Forces. It is our hope that this project may bring together the families of these men to celebrate their accomplishments during WWII and in life.”
I will add that I have a very soft spot in my heart for Fort Bragg. The first time I ever went there was with Gerard. I’d been staying with him for about a month and there had been a very sad death in my family. It was summer, and in Chico and Paradise there was a prolonged heat spell (even for Chico) in which the temperature had hovered around 112 for two or three weeks. You really couldn’t go outside for more than a moment, and I was going stir-crazy. We decided we should drive to the coast and chose Fort Bragg, which was the closest part of the coast (I think about three and a quarter hours away). It was hot most of the way (we had AC in the car, but when we stopped to rest for a few moments and got out of the car, it was oppressive). Then suddenly it was not hot, and by the time we got to Fort Bragg – which was sunny that day, also – it was 65 degrees. Also windy, bracing and clear. So beautiful, too! I cannot even describe the sense of blessed relief I got from being there. I think we had planned to stay 2 days and stayed 4 or 5.
I’ve been back a couple of times since.
Kate–
Apologies– I just now saw your comment; thank you for asking. New Haven got drenched with somewhere between 3 and 5 inches of rain on Friday, but the flooding was mostly flash flooding of low-lying streets and roads. According to the NWS, NYC and Westchester County had it much worse than New Haven and points east. I must admit I thought the local airport might be flooded as it is only 13 feet above sea level, but evidently it escaped. The Hurricane of 1938 did much more damage to New Haven than this week’s rain; there is a famous photo of the three churches on the Green (can’t find an online copy, alas) after the hurricane passed that shows water flowing across the steps of both Trinity Church and Center Church, with the Green itself under 2 feet of water.
Neo:
Regarding Ft. Bragg: The entire NorCal coast is a world apart, and a lovely one at that (if you don’t mind the smell of cannabis smoke). About 30 years ago my youngest daughter and I were driving north along the coast, visiting schools she thought she might want to attend. We discovered a state park called North Coast. Access was through several peoples’ back yard, then down a single lane road to the coast (and park). Spectacularly isolated, beautiful beach, with the angry Pacific (how did it ever get that name?) surf. As I recall (and that was a long time ago) the campground was undeveloped, but we were prepared to sleep on the ground in our own tent. Wonderful place, to which I’ve never returned (more’s the pity.). There are many such pieces of paradise all along that coast. Ft. Bragg is one.
I have a new friend who moved into my central coast CA area from a place near Chico, CA. We have a common interest in music and when I described a spring/summer outdoor concert series that ends on July 1, because the weather often turns too foggy and cold then, she said “How wonderful.” Oddly, June is sunnier and often warmer than July. She described her 110+ deg. summers as most unpleasant.
I have never been to Fort Bragg, but I spent many a day at Fort Hood with the Texas National Guard. Actually worked on the North side of the base full time for about three years, refurbishing old Bradley Fighting Vehicles that the regular army was handing down to the Guard. I saw a serial number on one or more of the old Bradleys that was less than 00…20. ( This was back in the 1990s so my memory is a bit fuzzy.) Some of these were apparently some of the first issued to the Army. We also took on a sub contract from the Red River Army Depot that involved significant makeovers of Marine Corps Humvees. So the Texas National Guard was rebuilding Marine equipment that was going back to the Marines!
On a lighter note, one of the black Sergeants in my unit , who was a bit of a comedian, used to say ” The only good thing about Fort Hood , is seeing it in the rear view mirror!”
In my younger days when I was a traveling musician I went up to the Ft. Bragg (CA) area from my San Francisco home many times. There was a club in Caspar a few miles to the south I played in quite often. Always a beautiful if long drive.
A few years ago a friend of mine passed away. He was from Ukiah (inland from Ft. Bragg) and had gone back there in his later years. I drove up there for the memorial service, now even further from my current home in Silicon Valley. I decided to take the long way home and drove out to the coast to make a leisurely drive on Route 1 to get back to San Francisco and then home. It was of course stunningly beautiful and for me very nostalgic. PS – I am still a traveling musician but only by car to local gigs.
Hello. I did a few little errands today, worked on some choir music, went to farmers’ market, the last of which I’ve not done for quite a while. A somewhat rainy day, so I thought the market would be kind of dead, but it was more lively than expected. Was hoping to see the one woodworking couple there, but alas, absent. The empanadas vendor sold out of a lot of his stuff.
RE: Chinese “grab-hag” fleets in our oceans grab all of the fish they can, wherever they can, with no care for the effects of their voracious over fishing in other country’s waters, same grab-hag mentality at work in the Chinese government claiming increasing areas of the ocean as being “their” territory.
Timestamps
00:00:00 — Opening Words
00:01:06 — What Am I Talking About?
00:01:58 — A Note On This Topic
00:03:23 — History
00:13:23 — Casualty Patterns
00:25:32 — Issues
00:40:23 — Casualty Minimisation
00:45:50 — Casualty Mitigation
00:48:52 — Lessons
00:58:08 — Rehabilitation And Mental Care
01:01:36 — Conclusion
01:02:50 — Channel Update
There is a converging nexus of globalization and a collapsing world economy.
Zeihan puts together the global demographics of why this is happening.
The Great Recession gave us a hint of a system that is straining to maintain the complex interactions of our economic systems, and some postulated we were staving off a Great Depression. I wonder if we’ve been in that mode since then and Covid 2020 just accelerated the process.
Have we reached peak debt? What happens when there is no longer debt worthy consumers? Is this one of the reasons we have this insane influx of illegal immigrants? Consumers to take on new debt? The problem is whether or not they are debt worthy.
By the way, I heard that 30% of greenhouse gases that are destroying the planet come from the shipping of goods around the world.
That alone should provide the impetus to re-shore our manufacturing.
‘That alone should provide the impetus to re-shore our manufacturing.’
To the green death cult the essential problem is any manufacturing in the west. Once you buy into the anthropomorphic climate change con you are a 99% made mark.
You could ship the products with sailing vessels and it wouldn’t matter one whit.
You think the shipping companies have an inherent interest in the most economical means of transportation, i.e., burning the least ammount of fuel per ton mile?
So give the death cult their way and say goodbye to shipping grain from Ukraine or the Pacific NW or anywhere, because, anthropomorphic climate change.
Famine? Too many people already they will say. In the end they will insist a new world government is required to allocate resources and set the “sustainable” human population. Malthus is calling again.
Poor reporting by Newsweek [tm]-
Have you seen this?
Today, this headline is running on Newsweek’s site:
“Trump supporters “highly likely” to Try To Kill People in 2024: Analyst. ”
“Try To KiLL People” ?
Why are the people from Newsweek, talking like that?
(This article is claiming that, an analyst says- [if Donald Trump, while running for the 2024, Presidential election, keeps talking about violence, then his words will inspire people to actually do deadly violence.)
Whatever might be true:
some people, very few people, might be inspired by [Trump’s talking about violence], + then take that feeling + actually do violence, however- some people are unstable enough to do that for any reason- like a guy in a post office lot took the last parking space, and- these few [dangerous, or unstable, or foolish people], can call themselves: Democrats, Republicans, independents, or any group of people, at all.
It is not the fault of the Republicans that these people exist.
They will probably exist throughout all of human history.
Deadly, violent people are the exception, and not the norm. They aren’t 99% of the Republicans, and they aren’t the majority of any group of people.
They are a very, very, very, small amount of the population.
Newsweek’s making this bad title, for this article- will make some US people believe that:
1) all, or [a noticeable number], GOP people…are prone to doing violence, [which is not true], or that 2) all, or [a noticeable number], of GOP people…are prone to deadly violence, [which is not true].
Please email or tell everyone you can, about Newsweek’s poorly worded title, on this article, and please tell them that this title is incorrect.
Newsweek’s action is wrong.
This is the wrong way to think about the GOP/the Republican party.
I don’t know if Newsweek made this bad title on their [news article], by design,…or out of neglect, but it is 100% wrong to talk about anybody, [or about any group of people], in this way.
Is Peak Debt like Peak Oil? Or is it Hide and Peak?
Hi om,
I don’t know, but-
Biden’s economy is like the film, “Jekyl and Hyde”, but Biden’s economy is more scary, because it’s REAL!
(I joke. I joke.) 😀
Next time Biden goes to the Tasty-Freez somebody tosses a vanilla and chocolate cone his way and he collapses. Rumors of a second cone thrower somewhere in the crowd. Were the Proud Boys involved? New Warren Commission convoked. Excuse for a big new crackdown on Magastremists.
TR, re: Newsweek headline– here’s a representative sample of the comments following the story.
“It’s obvious Trump supporters are not connected with reality. They ALL suffer from low intelligence quotients and an inability to process information logically.
This has been known for years. No mentally competent human believed a failed real-estate hustler from Queens was going to make a foreign nation pay for his campaign promise.
No smart, informed human funds a billionaire’s legal defense fund by purchasing a t-shirt labeled “never surrender” under a picture taken while the billionaire was surrendering.
Trump support should be legal grounds for immediate Involuntary commitment.”
Just to all people, in general: Please, let’s keep violence, and threats of violence, out of our political actions.
Brian E…”By the way, I heard that 30% of greenhouse gases that are destroying the planet come from the shipping of goods around the world. That alone should provide the impetus to re-shore our manufacturing.”
A thread at Twitter about the practicalities of making things in the US today:
“The United Nations had a report recommending the banning of smart phones from classrooms. The simple fact that the UN said that should be alarming since they never get anything right.”
}}} A spokesperson for Bowman appeared to confirm the claim to Forbes, saying Bowman “did not realize he would trigger a building alarm” and was “rushing to make an urgent vote,” adding he “regrets any confusion.”
Right. Bowman
1 — apparently comes from a country where there are no fire alarms….
Or
2 — perhaps he’s so totally illiterate that he can’t read and understand “Fire Alarm”?.
Or
3 — he’s just a totally lying, humaniform sack of ambulatory excreta, perhaps… 😛
I grant, any and all are possible. :-/
Number three, however, is clearly almost certainly true. It certainly seems The Way To Bet.
SMH, this kind of absurd bovine excreta is exactly why we need to purge so many of these assholes in Congress.
And yeah, if a conservative had done that, I would say he needs to be removed from office, too.
There’s no mystery here as to what happened and to Bowman’s guilt. The intriguing part is how successfully the Dems can deal with it.
The Dems are taking a beating lately on any number of fronts, particularly Biden’s deterioration and Hunter’s, well, everything.
I don’t consider Democrats invulnerable. Jussie Smollett didn’t pay the price he should have, but he paid a price. I suspect the same with be true for Bowman.
PJ Media has a pointed article noting that if Bowman could be easily caught pulling the fire alarm on security cameras in the Cannon House Office Building, then why not whoever left a bag of cocaine in the White House.
‘
Hmm. Well-spotted.
One of these things is not like the other …… or so Bowman thought?
Are we seeing a shift in European sentiment? It’s not just Ukraine, but a reaction to Brussels pushing the LGBTQ+ agenda. It’s Slovakian nationalism being expressed.
We were traveling last month and camped next to a couple from Holland. They were very much opposed to their countrie’s support of Ukraine, their government’s war against Dutch farmers and the immigration that is making parts of Holland less safe.
They think NATO is a shell of a defensive army. Interesting. Pro-patriotic, pro-nationalist sentiments.
Some in Europe thought Hitler wasn’t such bad fellow either.
Some thought Russia wasn’t a threat.
Some thought that the US would defend them, and thus never took funding of NATO seriously.
Some still don’t think Russia is imperialist and some actually are Americans.
Hi om,
Exactly.
And lots of Russian people, + others, don’t think that Stalin, or other early rulers of the USSR, weren’t murdering, paranoid, BAD GUYS.
And these early rulers were just that.
Some estimates show that Stalin murdered + killed about 30 million to 60 million of his own, country people + Soviet people.
If people like to keep score, that’s more than Adolf Hitler’s killing of 11-12 million people, in the 1930s through WW2.
Why did Stalin do that? I gather that- he was afraid or concerned that:
non-Russians, intellectuals, company owners, successful businessmen, + protesters, unhappy women + college students, or ANYONE, might- “rise up and kill him or overthrow him”, or “might destroy his perfect, Soviet society”.
Those people existing doesn’t excuse you from being a multiple-murderer, + doing countless…unjustified murders + killings- Mr. General Secretary, Joseph Stalin.
Some famous, European people, [from the past and present], are not worth making into heroes.
om, you are a superb propagandist. Someone should start paying you.
“Some in Europe thought Hitler wasn’t such bad fellow either.”
You mean like Bandera and the Azov Brigade?
“Some thought Russia wasn’t a threat.”
You mean like Germany that climbed into bed with Russia?
“Some thought that the US would defend them, and thus never took funding of NATO seriously.”
You mean like nearly every EU country? Maybe because Russia doesn’t represent the threat to them that it does to the US if we lose our economic status.
Let’s lay aside the snark, gottcha moments and engage in a conversation.
Russia isn’t our greatest threat, it’s the cultural marxists that are bent on destroying our society/culture.
The couple I mentioned recognize that Putin would like to re-establish Russian dominance in their sphere of influence– similar to every other great power. The question is, what’s the best way to counter that? I don’t believe it’s funding Ukraine to destroy itself. The argument is that Russian annexation can’t stand, yet after a year and a half of war how much territory has Ukraine gained? And at what cost? How many Ukrainians have been killed and wounded?
I listened to some of the Perun video you linked to and one of the things that stood out to me was the level of carnage inflicted by artillery. Something like the IED wounds in Iraq and Afghanistan, I presume, only at a magnitude greater numbers of wounded and killed.
Given that Russia has demonstrated so far it doesn’t have the technical ability to conduct a modern military campaign with air dominance, why do you think Russia is a physical threat to Europe, including new Europe.
The problem is 30 or 40 Abrams tanks, or 50 or 60 F-16s aren’t going to turn the tide. I doubt that the European NATO countries have the ability to affect the course of the war. Given Russia’s reliance on SAM’s as a defense, it would take the USAF’s complete arsenal to gain dominance– and that would of course inevitably lead to a nuclear confrontation.
We completely overestimated the effects of our sanctions and instead have encouraged a renewed interest in BRICS by non-aligned countries interested in sticking it to the dominant world power.
I’m not sure there is an answer– just as I’m not sure there is an answer to the cultural marxists destablizing our culture/society. One of the strengths of the left/marxists is controlling the narrative. Russia is certainly expert at using narrative to their advantage (a leftover from their communist heritage, or something intrinsic in the Russian psyche). Ukrainian are also masters of propaganda (learned it from the Russians?).
So my question to you is why do you think Russia represents a physical threat to European countries, given their demonstrated lack of ability to engage in modern warfare?
So, after a year and a half of war, what do we know about the Russian military? They don’t have top notch military strategists. They don’t have the capability of air dominance. They are willing to sustain high losses using traditional military tactics.
How would they fair if they used those tactics against Estonia, for example. As I understand it, that’s one of the NATO countries concerned about Russian expansionism.
Brain E:
Stating the obvious and what has occurred is propaganda in your world?
Otay.
And you the return with the long lost Nazis. Sad, truly sad, Brain E.
Perghozin’s no. 2, the dude who named the Wagner group was (RIP, after Vlad’s air trafic control procedures) notable for his Nazi tats. You knew that, right?
Maybe Turtler can return to fisk you again. But it has never worked in the past.
Brain E:
Pay attention to Vlad’s war of choice with Ukraine. Have you noticed a trend in the last year regarding who is taking back territory, or even more recently about Bakhmut? Probablly not.
Ukraine should just roll over and take it from Vlad? Propaganda Brain E?
Congratulations in recognizing that we in the USA have well funded and organized opponents to freedom in the USA; the Democrat left. Did the Dutch give you any wisdom beyond EU bureaucrats are a pox? That isvwhat they are and what they do.
Vlad isn’t the EU and the EU isn’t waging war or threatening to nuke its neighbors. Remember?
Brain E discovers that modern (since 1914) artillery filled will HE is the killer in warfare. Congratulations, from 40 mm grenades to mortars to big tube artillery, “fire kills.” That is why armies went into trenches more than a 100 years ago; to be exposed above ground was immediately lethal. But you knew that, too?
And now Brain E is claiming that since Vlad’s military is inept in many ways, they aren’t as much a threat as MATO feared?
Funny thing to posit; Ukraine is still trying to get them to leave what was Ukrainian territory.
An assessment from a Ukraine supporter. He says some things that will bring joy to your soul, followed by some things you won’t want to admit.
Fog of war, and all that.
om, none of this brings joy to my soul.
What are this person’s qualifications to make these conclusions?
From what I’ve read and heard, the F-16 by itself will not give Ukraine air dominance, and that is what is needed to make the advances Ukraine would need to cut off the supply routes to Crimea.
The F-16 does have some advantages in dogfighting, so does the Mig-29. And to provide the kind of air support for Ukraine’s goal of cutting off supply routes to Crimea, they open themselves up to a formidible SAM defensive system across the border. Because of the nature of the plane, airbase will need to be established in the west, which will make rapid responses more difficult.
From what I’ve read, it will still take all of 2024 to build up the infrastructure to support the plane.
As to his assertion that Russia has lost the initiative to make significant offensive gains, there is this analysis by the New York Times:
“Rather than seeking rapid gains, the Russian military appears to be comfortable holding the territory it already controls, according to Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher in war studies at King’s College London. “It’s not losing anything by not moving forward,” she said.
Russia’s forces outnumber Ukraine’s nearly three to one on the battlefield, and with a larger population to replenish its ranks, Russia could see a prolonged defense as in its interests.
“The whole strategy in Ukraine is for the Russians to let the Ukrainians run against those defenses, kill as many as possible, and destroy as much Western equipment as possible,” she added.
Russia controls about 18 percent of Ukraine — a swath of land larger than Switzerland. This includes Crimea and part of eastern Ukraine, which it has occupied since 2014.
The slowdown (Ukraine summer counteroffensive) comes with huge risks for Ukraine. If it looks unlikely to recapture large areas of the country, Western support could wane, either through lack of political will or unwillingness to donate more weapons, especially given the yearslong wait for deliveries of replacement equipment.
“Russia is trying to wait out until the West turns its back,” said Dr. Miron.”
What I had read about some European leader’s support, they were willing to fund this summer’s offensive– but given the rather meager gains, support may turn to settlement.
Bain E, you and Tucker, and Vlad may hope so.
As I said earlier, some Europeans (“leaders”) don’t know a dangerous imperialist dictator when he is waging war in plain sight. Pity for them and theirs,
Ukraine Matters wasn’t negative enough about Ukrainian prospects? Or just not Colonel Macgregor?
Kerch Straight Bridge is a dead man walking.
ATCMS and GLSDBs are coming.
The Mig 29 is not F-16 equivalent.
The F-16 will allow usage of more capable western weapons. More airframes for Stormshadow missiles, for example. No one is saying that the west is suppling enough F-16 to allow Ukraine to achieve air superiority. The F-16 will allow local push back of Russian air assets (KA-52s and the fixed wing aircraft,)
Meager gains? Well how’s that Black Sea fleet and the Bakhmut situation going for Vladdy, and those aren’t the primary theaters? How is th Russian offensive going lately, a lot of Nazis (in Russia) yet to be eliminated.
By the way, here’s a story about EU leaders “rushing” to assure Zelensky that everything’s OK. The US is going to continue funding the war.
I don’t know what Jazz Shaw’s position is on our support, but he appears a little perturbed at the presumption of Europe.
Meanwhile Shaw says this, “It’s worth noting that the Foreign Ministers of Hungary and Poland didn’t make the trip. That may or may not signal something, but there have been increased tensions in those countries over the endless aid flowing into Ukraine and the scant progress shown in the counter-offensive.”
Is Poland starting to have buyer’s remorse at the number of refugees that have fled Ukraine?
As pointed out by Ukraine Matters, getting to Tokmak to threaten the railroads was the key to the offensive this summer. That hasn’t happened, yet. Russian logistics are railroad dependent. Tokmak is still at least 10-12 km away. Russia has already lost many rail nodes is Crimea (cruise missiles can do that). The Kerch Straight Bridge is already vulnerable, will a third attack be the last strike needed?
You an Vlad may worry about it. House of cards and all that.
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Where is everybody?
This Indian summer day is so beautiful here in Minnesota, I’m not surprised if it’s taking a while for folks to check in.
The Rapture Boss…looks like we’re the only ones left.
😉
I’ve been outside mowing the lawn and pulling weeds. Now resting. Whew!
John Guilfoyle, that was really funny! — except that, I’m still here, so maybe not so funny. 🙁
Kate says, “John Guilfoyle, that was really funny! — except that, I’m still here . . . ”
I’m still here too– somebody has to feed the cats ’cause they weren’t raptured. And about the photo of the day: I was thinking that if you were to crop the left-hand side and the lower edge just right, it could pass as a picture of either Citi Field or the NYC subway system yesterday. See the following short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgAb10BXhEM&ab_channel=CNBCTelevision
I do hope Neo is dry and cozy.
It looks like the northern California coast.
M J R reporting in . . . hello, neo . . . hello, folks . . .
Yep been working outside and will go out to do more.
But wanted to say that the MSM is blaming the Rep for not voting for the funding bull (meant Bill, but Bull will do), and avoiding the fact not one Dem voted for the bill. If they had voted for it then it would have passed. But NO, blame hard right Rep.
Stop gap will not do anything. It put the whole mess into mid Nov, just before the Holiday Season.
I recognized the photo as an unfamiliar part of the California coast. And the image URL confirms: Fort Bragg.
om:
Yes, Fort Bragg. I’ve been there several times – very lovely place.
I read the Slate.com advice columns (taking one for the team). Very enlightening and entertaining.
Today, a letter from a “35-year-old transmasc nonbinary person” who also identifies as “poly.”
To the uninitiated, this is a biological and anatomically normal female who thinks she’s a fella (no explanation of why she can’t be non-binary as a biological female as well as an artificial male). She still looks and acts like a lady because she has just started taking testosterone and it will take 6 months to start having an effect.
She has many partners, including some that she meets for anonymous sex that she finds on apps.
Her question is whether it is OK to conceal her “status,” i.e., that she’s really a “guy,” from her anonymous hookups. She recently found herself in the apartment of a “Trumper” and felt unsafe.
I know that you’re on the edge of your seats for the answer.
Yes, it’s fine to conceal that you’re really a guy if it’s for safety.
More details at https://tinyurl.com/v7j2bzkd
Visiting University of Cincinnati where my daughter is considering going to school.
Re: Fort Bragg.
Lovely place, but the name has to go.
The US Army recently renamed Ft Bragg (the huge base in NC) Ft Liberty. They could not tolerate a base named after a decorated officer who spent some time as a confederate. They have also renamed Ft Hood here in Texas- now Ft Cavazos. Same logic.
Now, the Confederacy and slavery never existed, and we are now at war with Eastasia.
RISD last week and SCAD next week. Fun times.
I am battling Yellowjackets. Yesterday the phone guy was here because our backup dsl was down. Opened up the demarcation point and it was full of YJ. There are six large dead salmon on the shore. Swarming with YJ. The salmon are spawned out chum that have come back down river to die. Now having satellite connection problems. Probably sun angle but the antenna is swarming with YJ.
Kind of like some horror movie.
I recently heard a lecture from an NC historian, who said, as an aside, that if they wanted to use only pro-Union names, they might as well have left it as Fort Bragg, since he lost practically every battle. Fine strategist, field commander, not so much.
PA Cat, I was wondering if you were flooded in New Haven.
West TX Intermediate Crude says, “The US Army recently renamed Ft Bragg (the huge base in NC) Ft Liberty. They could not tolerate a base named after a decorated officer who spent some time as a confederate. They have also renamed Ft Hood here in Texas- now Ft Cavazos. Same logic.”
My dad trained as a paratrooper (82nd Airborne) at both bases during WWII before being shipped overseas for Operation Torch. Fort Hood was Camp Hood then– if the history of what began as a tank destroyer training camp interests you, there ‘s a lot of info. on the following website:
https://tankdestroyer.net/
From the home page: “All the materials we receive are digitized and available to read online or for download. We dedicate the site to the men that served in the U.S. Tank Destroyer Forces. It is our hope that this project may bring together the families of these men to celebrate their accomplishments during WWII and in life.”
I will add that I have a very soft spot in my heart for Fort Bragg. The first time I ever went there was with Gerard. I’d been staying with him for about a month and there had been a very sad death in my family. It was summer, and in Chico and Paradise there was a prolonged heat spell (even for Chico) in which the temperature had hovered around 112 for two or three weeks. You really couldn’t go outside for more than a moment, and I was going stir-crazy. We decided we should drive to the coast and chose Fort Bragg, which was the closest part of the coast (I think about three and a quarter hours away). It was hot most of the way (we had AC in the car, but when we stopped to rest for a few moments and got out of the car, it was oppressive). Then suddenly it was not hot, and by the time we got to Fort Bragg – which was sunny that day, also – it was 65 degrees. Also windy, bracing and clear. So beautiful, too! I cannot even describe the sense of blessed relief I got from being there. I think we had planned to stay 2 days and stayed 4 or 5.
I’ve been back a couple of times since.
Kate–
Apologies– I just now saw your comment; thank you for asking. New Haven got drenched with somewhere between 3 and 5 inches of rain on Friday, but the flooding was mostly flash flooding of low-lying streets and roads. According to the NWS, NYC and Westchester County had it much worse than New Haven and points east. I must admit I thought the local airport might be flooded as it is only 13 feet above sea level, but evidently it escaped. The Hurricane of 1938 did much more damage to New Haven than this week’s rain; there is a famous photo of the three churches on the Green (can’t find an online copy, alas) after the hurricane passed that shows water flowing across the steps of both Trinity Church and Center Church, with the Green itself under 2 feet of water.
Neo:
Regarding Ft. Bragg: The entire NorCal coast is a world apart, and a lovely one at that (if you don’t mind the smell of cannabis smoke). About 30 years ago my youngest daughter and I were driving north along the coast, visiting schools she thought she might want to attend. We discovered a state park called North Coast. Access was through several peoples’ back yard, then down a single lane road to the coast (and park). Spectacularly isolated, beautiful beach, with the angry Pacific (how did it ever get that name?) surf. As I recall (and that was a long time ago) the campground was undeveloped, but we were prepared to sleep on the ground in our own tent. Wonderful place, to which I’ve never returned (more’s the pity.). There are many such pieces of paradise all along that coast. Ft. Bragg is one.
I have a new friend who moved into my central coast CA area from a place near Chico, CA. We have a common interest in music and when I described a spring/summer outdoor concert series that ends on July 1, because the weather often turns too foggy and cold then, she said “How wonderful.” Oddly, June is sunnier and often warmer than July. She described her 110+ deg. summers as most unpleasant.
I have never been to Fort Bragg, but I spent many a day at Fort Hood with the Texas National Guard. Actually worked on the North side of the base full time for about three years, refurbishing old Bradley Fighting Vehicles that the regular army was handing down to the Guard. I saw a serial number on one or more of the old Bradleys that was less than 00…20. ( This was back in the 1990s so my memory is a bit fuzzy.) Some of these were apparently some of the first issued to the Army. We also took on a sub contract from the Red River Army Depot that involved significant makeovers of Marine Corps Humvees. So the Texas National Guard was rebuilding Marine equipment that was going back to the Marines!
On a lighter note, one of the black Sergeants in my unit , who was a bit of a comedian, used to say ” The only good thing about Fort Hood , is seeing it in the rear view mirror!”
In my younger days when I was a traveling musician I went up to the Ft. Bragg (CA) area from my San Francisco home many times. There was a club in Caspar a few miles to the south I played in quite often. Always a beautiful if long drive.
A few years ago a friend of mine passed away. He was from Ukiah (inland from Ft. Bragg) and had gone back there in his later years. I drove up there for the memorial service, now even further from my current home in Silicon Valley. I decided to take the long way home and drove out to the coast to make a leisurely drive on Route 1 to get back to San Francisco and then home. It was of course stunningly beautiful and for me very nostalgic. PS – I am still a traveling musician but only by car to local gigs.
My latest post: Stories and Society
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/70061.html
Hello. I did a few little errands today, worked on some choir music, went to farmers’ market, the last of which I’ve not done for quite a while. A somewhat rainy day, so I thought the market would be kind of dead, but it was more lively than expected. Was hoping to see the one woodworking couple there, but alas, absent. The empanadas vendor sold out of a lot of his stuff.
Making Bach relevant again.
Laura Lace is the artist.
J. S. Bach – Toccata in D Minor Guitar cover
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8-T09qB6PI
Wow! Thanks for posting Brian E.
RE: Chinese “grab-hag” fleets in our oceans grab all of the fish they can, wherever they can, with no care for the effects of their voracious over fishing in other country’s waters, same grab-hag mentality at work in the Chinese government claiming increasing areas of the ocean as being “their” territory.
Their appetite is voracious.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jr-Unp-0oo
We need a law saying obey the law? Why didn’t we think of that before?? Kathy Hochul — ‘We need limits on who can cross the border.’
https://twitter.com/CitizenFreePres/status/1708516622741491961
France.
Open Thread Sunday – Russo/Ukraine war:
Casualties, Battlefield Medicine, & Lessons from Ukraine – Threats, Logistics & Innovations – Perun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr961RGNBxU
There is a converging nexus of globalization and a collapsing world economy.
Zeihan puts together the global demographics of why this is happening.
The Great Recession gave us a hint of a system that is straining to maintain the complex interactions of our economic systems, and some postulated we were staving off a Great Depression. I wonder if we’ve been in that mode since then and Covid 2020 just accelerated the process.
Have we reached peak debt? What happens when there is no longer debt worthy consumers? Is this one of the reasons we have this insane influx of illegal immigrants? Consumers to take on new debt? The problem is whether or not they are debt worthy.
Brace Yourself For The Collapse Of Modern Society – Peter Zeihan | Modern Wisdom
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRT7P-VKM0k
By the way, I heard that 30% of greenhouse gases that are destroying the planet come from the shipping of goods around the world.
That alone should provide the impetus to re-shore our manufacturing.
‘That alone should provide the impetus to re-shore our manufacturing.’
To the green death cult the essential problem is any manufacturing in the west. Once you buy into the anthropomorphic climate change con you are a 99% made mark.
You could ship the products with sailing vessels and it wouldn’t matter one whit.
You think the shipping companies have an inherent interest in the most economical means of transportation, i.e., burning the least ammount of fuel per ton mile?
So give the death cult their way and say goodbye to shipping grain from Ukraine or the Pacific NW or anywhere, because, anthropomorphic climate change.
Famine? Too many people already they will say. In the end they will insist a new world government is required to allocate resources and set the “sustainable” human population. Malthus is calling again.
Poor reporting by Newsweek [tm]-
Have you seen this?
Today, this headline is running on Newsweek’s site:
“Trump supporters “highly likely” to Try To Kill People in 2024: Analyst. ”
“Try To KiLL People” ?
Why are the people from Newsweek, talking like that?
(This article is claiming that, an analyst says- [if Donald Trump, while running for the 2024, Presidential election, keeps talking about violence, then his words will inspire people to actually do deadly violence.)
Whatever might be true:
some people, very few people, might be inspired by [Trump’s talking about violence], + then take that feeling + actually do violence, however- some people are unstable enough to do that for any reason- like a guy in a post office lot took the last parking space, and- these few [dangerous, or unstable, or foolish people], can call themselves: Democrats, Republicans, independents, or any group of people, at all.
It is not the fault of the Republicans that these people exist.
They will probably exist throughout all of human history.
Deadly, violent people are the exception, and not the norm. They aren’t 99% of the Republicans, and they aren’t the majority of any group of people.
They are a very, very, very, small amount of the population.
Newsweek’s making this bad title, for this article- will make some US people believe that:
1) all, or [a noticeable number], GOP people…are prone to doing violence, [which is not true], or that 2) all, or [a noticeable number], of GOP people…are prone to deadly violence, [which is not true].
Please email or tell everyone you can, about Newsweek’s poorly worded title, on this article, and please tell them that this title is incorrect.
Newsweek’s action is wrong.
This is the wrong way to think about the GOP/the Republican party.
I don’t know if Newsweek made this bad title on their [news article], by design,…or out of neglect, but it is 100% wrong to talk about anybody, [or about any group of people], in this way.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-supporters-highly-likely-try-kill-people-2024-analyst-1831191
Is Peak Debt like Peak Oil? Or is it Hide and Peak?
Hi om,
I don’t know, but-
Biden’s economy is like the film, “Jekyl and Hyde”, but Biden’s economy is more scary, because it’s REAL!
(I joke. I joke.) 😀
Next time Biden goes to the Tasty-Freez somebody tosses a vanilla and chocolate cone his way and he collapses. Rumors of a second cone thrower somewhere in the crowd. Were the Proud Boys involved? New Warren Commission convoked. Excuse for a big new crackdown on Magastremists.
TR, re: Newsweek headline– here’s a representative sample of the comments following the story.
“It’s obvious Trump supporters are not connected with reality. They ALL suffer from low intelligence quotients and an inability to process information logically.
This has been known for years. No mentally competent human believed a failed real-estate hustler from Queens was going to make a foreign nation pay for his campaign promise.
No smart, informed human funds a billionaire’s legal defense fund by purchasing a t-shirt labeled “never surrender” under a picture taken while the billionaire was surrendering.
Trump support should be legal grounds for immediate Involuntary commitment.”
I think we’re past the point of reconciliation.
” past the point of reconciliation”
Elon agrees: https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1707915765977055584
Hi Brian E,
I agree.
Just to all people, in general: Please, let’s keep violence, and threats of violence, out of our political actions.
Brian E…”By the way, I heard that 30% of greenhouse gases that are destroying the planet come from the shipping of goods around the world. That alone should provide the impetus to re-shore our manufacturing.”
A thread at Twitter about the practicalities of making things in the US today:
https://twitter.com/MehtabKarta/status/1708260630497562791
“The United Nations had a report recommending the banning of smart phones from classrooms. The simple fact that the UN said that should be alarming since they never get anything right.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/10/new-uk-announce-cellphone-bans-schools/
Rep. Bowman Faces Expulsion Calls After He Triggered Capitol Fire Alarm Before Crucial Vote
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/09/30/democrat-rep-bowman-triggered-fire-alarm-ahead-of-house-vote-to-stall-shutdown
}}} A spokesperson for Bowman appeared to confirm the claim to Forbes, saying Bowman “did not realize he would trigger a building alarm” and was “rushing to make an urgent vote,” adding he “regrets any confusion.”
Right. Bowman
1 — apparently comes from a country where there are no fire alarms….
Or
2 — perhaps he’s so totally illiterate that he can’t read and understand “Fire Alarm”?.
Or
3 — he’s just a totally lying, humaniform sack of ambulatory excreta, perhaps… 😛
I grant, any and all are possible. :-/
Number three, however, is clearly almost certainly true. It certainly seems The Way To Bet.
SMH, this kind of absurd bovine excreta is exactly why we need to purge so many of these assholes in Congress.
And yeah, if a conservative had done that, I would say he needs to be removed from office, too.
The Long and Winding Treacherous Road Ahead
Re; Rep. Bowman
There’s no mystery here as to what happened and to Bowman’s guilt. The intriguing part is how successfully the Dems can deal with it.
The Dems are taking a beating lately on any number of fronts, particularly Biden’s deterioration and Hunter’s, well, everything.
I don’t consider Democrats invulnerable. Jussie Smollett didn’t pay the price he should have, but he paid a price. I suspect the same with be true for Bowman.
PJ Media has a pointed article noting that if Bowman could be easily caught pulling the fire alarm on security cameras in the Cannon House Office Building, then why not whoever left a bag of cocaine in the White House.
‘
Hmm. Well-spotted.
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2023/10/01/fire-alarm-scandal-raises-new-questions-about-cocainegate-n1731426
One of these things is not like the other …… or so Bowman thought?
Are we seeing a shift in European sentiment? It’s not just Ukraine, but a reaction to Brussels pushing the LGBTQ+ agenda. It’s Slovakian nationalism being expressed.
We were traveling last month and camped next to a couple from Holland. They were very much opposed to their countrie’s support of Ukraine, their government’s war against Dutch farmers and the immigration that is making parts of Holland less safe.
They think NATO is a shell of a defensive army. Interesting. Pro-patriotic, pro-nationalist sentiments.
Pro-Russian politician wins Slovakia election
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OV8ssBmX-IY
Some in Europe thought Hitler wasn’t such bad fellow either.
Some thought Russia wasn’t a threat.
Some thought that the US would defend them, and thus never took funding of NATO seriously.
Some still don’t think Russia is imperialist and some actually are Americans.
Hi om,
Exactly.
And lots of Russian people, + others, don’t think that Stalin, or other early rulers of the USSR, weren’t murdering, paranoid, BAD GUYS.
And these early rulers were just that.
Some estimates show that Stalin murdered + killed about 30 million to 60 million of his own, country people + Soviet people.
If people like to keep score, that’s more than Adolf Hitler’s killing of 11-12 million people, in the 1930s through WW2.
Why did Stalin do that? I gather that- he was afraid or concerned that:
non-Russians, intellectuals, company owners, successful businessmen, + protesters, unhappy women + college students, or ANYONE, might- “rise up and kill him or overthrow him”, or “might destroy his perfect, Soviet society”.
Those people existing doesn’t excuse you from being a multiple-murderer, + doing countless…unjustified murders + killings- Mr. General Secretary, Joseph Stalin.
Some famous, European people, [from the past and present], are not worth making into heroes.
om, you are a superb propagandist. Someone should start paying you.
“Some in Europe thought Hitler wasn’t such bad fellow either.”
You mean like Bandera and the Azov Brigade?
“Some thought Russia wasn’t a threat.”
You mean like Germany that climbed into bed with Russia?
“Some thought that the US would defend them, and thus never took funding of NATO seriously.”
You mean like nearly every EU country? Maybe because Russia doesn’t represent the threat to them that it does to the US if we lose our economic status.
Let’s lay aside the snark, gottcha moments and engage in a conversation.
Russia isn’t our greatest threat, it’s the cultural marxists that are bent on destroying our society/culture.
The couple I mentioned recognize that Putin would like to re-establish Russian dominance in their sphere of influence– similar to every other great power. The question is, what’s the best way to counter that? I don’t believe it’s funding Ukraine to destroy itself. The argument is that Russian annexation can’t stand, yet after a year and a half of war how much territory has Ukraine gained? And at what cost? How many Ukrainians have been killed and wounded?
I listened to some of the Perun video you linked to and one of the things that stood out to me was the level of carnage inflicted by artillery. Something like the IED wounds in Iraq and Afghanistan, I presume, only at a magnitude greater numbers of wounded and killed.
Given that Russia has demonstrated so far it doesn’t have the technical ability to conduct a modern military campaign with air dominance, why do you think Russia is a physical threat to Europe, including new Europe.
The problem is 30 or 40 Abrams tanks, or 50 or 60 F-16s aren’t going to turn the tide. I doubt that the European NATO countries have the ability to affect the course of the war. Given Russia’s reliance on SAM’s as a defense, it would take the USAF’s complete arsenal to gain dominance– and that would of course inevitably lead to a nuclear confrontation.
We completely overestimated the effects of our sanctions and instead have encouraged a renewed interest in BRICS by non-aligned countries interested in sticking it to the dominant world power.
I’m not sure there is an answer– just as I’m not sure there is an answer to the cultural marxists destablizing our culture/society. One of the strengths of the left/marxists is controlling the narrative. Russia is certainly expert at using narrative to their advantage (a leftover from their communist heritage, or something intrinsic in the Russian psyche). Ukrainian are also masters of propaganda (learned it from the Russians?).
So my question to you is why do you think Russia represents a physical threat to European countries, given their demonstrated lack of ability to engage in modern warfare?
So, after a year and a half of war, what do we know about the Russian military? They don’t have top notch military strategists. They don’t have the capability of air dominance. They are willing to sustain high losses using traditional military tactics.
How would they fair if they used those tactics against Estonia, for example. As I understand it, that’s one of the NATO countries concerned about Russian expansionism.
Brain E:
Stating the obvious and what has occurred is propaganda in your world?
Otay.
And you the return with the long lost Nazis. Sad, truly sad, Brain E.
Perghozin’s no. 2, the dude who named the Wagner group was (RIP, after Vlad’s air trafic control procedures) notable for his Nazi tats. You knew that, right?
Maybe Turtler can return to fisk you again. But it has never worked in the past.
Brain E:
Pay attention to Vlad’s war of choice with Ukraine. Have you noticed a trend in the last year regarding who is taking back territory, or even more recently about Bakhmut? Probablly not.
Ukraine should just roll over and take it from Vlad? Propaganda Brain E?
Congratulations in recognizing that we in the USA have well funded and organized opponents to freedom in the USA; the Democrat left. Did the Dutch give you any wisdom beyond EU bureaucrats are a pox? That isvwhat they are and what they do.
Vlad isn’t the EU and the EU isn’t waging war or threatening to nuke its neighbors. Remember?
Brain E discovers that modern (since 1914) artillery filled will HE is the killer in warfare. Congratulations, from 40 mm grenades to mortars to big tube artillery, “fire kills.” That is why armies went into trenches more than a 100 years ago; to be exposed above ground was immediately lethal. But you knew that, too?
And now Brain E is claiming that since Vlad’s military is inept in many ways, they aren’t as much a threat as MATO feared?
Funny thing to posit; Ukraine is still trying to get them to leave what was Ukrainian territory.
Possession being 99% of Russian law, eh, Brain E?
You might want to call your Netherlander friends.
Braine E:
Ukrainian Offensive: Achievement Analysis – Ukraine War Update 02/Oct/2023 – Ukraine Matters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpHrLnEHi20
An assessment from a Ukraine supporter. He says some things that will bring joy to your soul, followed by some things you won’t want to admit.
Fog of war, and all that.
om, none of this brings joy to my soul.
What are this person’s qualifications to make these conclusions?
From what I’ve read and heard, the F-16 by itself will not give Ukraine air dominance, and that is what is needed to make the advances Ukraine would need to cut off the supply routes to Crimea.
The F-16 does have some advantages in dogfighting, so does the Mig-29. And to provide the kind of air support for Ukraine’s goal of cutting off supply routes to Crimea, they open themselves up to a formidible SAM defensive system across the border. Because of the nature of the plane, airbase will need to be established in the west, which will make rapid responses more difficult.
From what I’ve read, it will still take all of 2024 to build up the infrastructure to support the plane.
As to his assertion that Russia has lost the initiative to make significant offensive gains, there is this analysis by the New York Times:
“Rather than seeking rapid gains, the Russian military appears to be comfortable holding the territory it already controls, according to Marina Miron, a postdoctoral researcher in war studies at King’s College London. “It’s not losing anything by not moving forward,” she said.
Russia’s forces outnumber Ukraine’s nearly three to one on the battlefield, and with a larger population to replenish its ranks, Russia could see a prolonged defense as in its interests.
“The whole strategy in Ukraine is for the Russians to let the Ukrainians run against those defenses, kill as many as possible, and destroy as much Western equipment as possible,” she added.
Russia controls about 18 percent of Ukraine — a swath of land larger than Switzerland. This includes Crimea and part of eastern Ukraine, which it has occupied since 2014.
The slowdown (Ukraine summer counteroffensive) comes with huge risks for Ukraine. If it looks unlikely to recapture large areas of the country, Western support could wane, either through lack of political will or unwillingness to donate more weapons, especially given the yearslong wait for deliveries of replacement equipment.
“Russia is trying to wait out until the West turns its back,” said Dr. Miron.”
What I had read about some European leader’s support, they were willing to fund this summer’s offensive– but given the rather meager gains, support may turn to settlement.
Bain E, you and Tucker, and Vlad may hope so.
As I said earlier, some Europeans (“leaders”) don’t know a dangerous imperialist dictator when he is waging war in plain sight. Pity for them and theirs,
Ukraine Matters wasn’t negative enough about Ukrainian prospects? Or just not Colonel Macgregor?
Kerch Straight Bridge is a dead man walking.
ATCMS and GLSDBs are coming.
The Mig 29 is not F-16 equivalent.
The F-16 will allow usage of more capable western weapons. More airframes for Stormshadow missiles, for example. No one is saying that the west is suppling enough F-16 to allow Ukraine to achieve air superiority. The F-16 will allow local push back of Russian air assets (KA-52s and the fixed wing aircraft,)
Meager gains? Well how’s that Black Sea fleet and the Bakhmut situation going for Vladdy, and those aren’t the primary theaters? How is th Russian offensive going lately, a lot of Nazis (in Russia) yet to be eliminated.
By the way, here’s a story about EU leaders “rushing” to assure Zelensky that everything’s OK. The US is going to continue funding the war.
I don’t know what Jazz Shaw’s position is on our support, but he appears a little perturbed at the presumption of Europe.
Meanwhile Shaw says this, “It’s worth noting that the Foreign Ministers of Hungary and Poland didn’t make the trip. That may or may not signal something, but there have been increased tensions in those countries over the endless aid flowing into Ukraine and the scant progress shown in the counter-offensive.”
Is Poland starting to have buyer’s remorse at the number of refugees that have fled Ukraine?
EU leaders assure Zelensky that everything is just fine
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2023/10/02/eu-leaders-assure-zelensky-that-everything-is-just-fine-n581808
Brain E:
As pointed out by Ukraine Matters, getting to Tokmak to threaten the railroads was the key to the offensive this summer. That hasn’t happened, yet. Russian logistics are railroad dependent. Tokmak is still at least 10-12 km away. Russia has already lost many rail nodes is Crimea (cruise missiles can do that). The Kerch Straight Bridge is already vulnerable, will a third attack be the last strike needed?
You an Vlad may worry about it. House of cards and all that.